Valentina Defilippo has published her studies of social network structures and the nature of the connections between nodes. Through five case studies she strived to investigate various ways of representing the links between nodes in her personal social network, focusing on various aspects of the relationships: time, affections, space, conversations, emotions.

“A social network is a social structure made of nodes (which are generally individuals or organizations) that are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as values, visions, ideas, financial exchange, friendships, kinship, dislike, conflict or trade. Social network analysis views social relationships in terms of nodes and ties. Nodes are the individual actors within the networks, and ties are the relationships between people. All too often, the design of sociometric diagrams ignores the fact that data reflects the plight of real people. Abstract and unemotional, these forms of presentation lack the human insight.”